Jakarta Drugs Suspect Walks Out of Unlocked Cell

Police in Central Jakarta have been left red-faced after a drugs suspect managed to walk out of an unlocked visiting cell, in the second jailbreak in the precinct in the space of three months.

Sr. Comr. Rikwanto, the Jakarta Police spokesman, said on Tuesday that the suspect, Evin Nuriadi, 30, escaped from the Sawah Besar subprecinct police station on Friday afternoon.

“At 2 p.m. that day he received a visit from his mother,” Rikwanto said. “Officers brought him to the visiting room, but they forgot to lock the door afterward.”

Rikwanto said Evin used the opportunity to go the station bathroom, change into the clothes left by someone who was taking a bath, and walk out of the station with his mother, Titin.

He said the two officers responsible for escorting Evin to the visiting room and locking it, identified only as adjutant first inspectors H. and S., were being questioned by internal affairs for dereliction of duty.

“They will undergo a tribunal. The usual punishment for negligence is jailing for seven to 14 days,” Rikwanto said.

“In the meantime, we’re still looking for the suspect and his mother, who have both gone on the run.”

Evin had been in police custody since April 8 after being arrested at his mother’s house in possession of 0.2 grams of methamphetamine.

The breakout at the Sawah Besar station is the second such incident in Central Jakarta in the past three months.

On Feb. 7, 12 suspects staged a daring escape from the Cempaka Putih subprecinct station by cutting through the bars of their holding cell using saws and other tools smuggled in to them by the wife of one of the suspects.

One of the suspects had broken out of the very same jail just a few months earlier, in mid-December. All 12 suspects were eventually recaptured.